IPA Comp 2025
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Entry Portal
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IPA COMP 2025
Christmas is over. New Years is over. The weather is hot. Must be time to start thinking about... THE 2025 MERRI MASHER’S IPA COMPETITION!!!
A big thank you to Hop Products Australia (HPA) for once again being our major event sponsor. "The best IPAs need the best fresh hops, and the best fresh hops are HPA" (to be read to the cadence of an old and infamous Australian macro beer ad). Seriously though, without HPAs support we wouldn't be able to run this comp the same way, so from all organisers and entrants - Thank you.
The dates you need to know
Saturday the 8th of March – Online entry submission and deadline is 11am
Saturday the 15th of March - Entries must be dropped off by 11am
Sunday the 23rd of March – Judging day with the awards party at The Woodlands from 5:30pm
Other important details
As with the last several years the judging and awards party will be held at The Woodlands Hotel in Coburg. Dave and the crew at The Woodlands run a great pub with an awesome beer garden, a sweet tap list and amazing food (judges and stewards will see what I mean as they get a free lunch for volunteering).
Entries can be submitted NOW via the entry portal. This year it’s $12 per entry and each one needs to be at least 500ml and in a single bottle or can. Also, only one entry allowed per brewer, per style (though you can have two beers in the same category if the styles are different).
NOTE: We may need to cap entries if it looks like we will exceed our judging capacity.
Reminders and other stuff relating to the IPA Comp will be communicated via the Masher's public facebook page. This is open for anyone to follow.
Awards, Celebration & Livestream
We will once again be live streaming the awards ceremony via the Merri Mashers public Facebook profile. However, we’re encouraging EVERYONE to join us in person at The Woodlands from 5pm to cheer on the place getters and have a beer with other homebrewers and some of our sponsors (some of which have put up a heap of cool door prizes). If you’re planning to watch the livestream from home keep an eye on the Mashers Facebook page for the link and timing. We're aiming to start the livestream at 5:30pm but we will post if we need to nudge this time a little on the day.
Styles
We will be judging according to the 2021 BJCP style guidelines.
This year we are pre grouping the styles into categories in advance. Awards will be 1st to 3rd by category with prizes from our sponsors for first place in the category. This is a little different to how we have done it in the past. The categories for this year are:
American IPA – Sponsored by Bintani
21A - American IPA
Black IPA - Sponsored by Crafy Pint
21B - Black IPA
Belgian & White IPA - Sponsored by Stomping Ground
21B - Belgian IPA
21B - White IPA
Engish & Brown IPA - Sponsored by Bintani
12C - English IPA
21B - Brown IPA
Double IPA - Sponsored by Carwyn Cellars
22A - Double IPA
Brut & Specialty IPA - Sponsored by Bintani
21B - Brut IPA
21B - Specialty IPA (Otherwise not listed)
Red & Rye IPA - Sponsored by Keg King
21B - Red IPA
21B - Rye IPA
Hazy IPA - Sponsored by CoConspirators
21C - Hazy IPA
We also have the BIG awards for:
Champion Brewer - Sponsored by Bluestone Yeast & Molly Rose
Champion Beer - Sponsored by Tallboy and Moose
Best Novice - Sponsored by Beer Co.
Club of Show - Sponsored by Voyager Craft Malt
Judges and Stewards
Love Homebrewing? Then why not volunteer to judge or steward? These volunteer roles can be a lot of fun and no experience is necessary as we will make sure any new or inexperienced judges are seated with those who can assist. We also look after our generous volunteers by making sure they get a free parma (or diet friendly alternative) at the lunch break.
There will be two judging sessions; a morning session and an afternoon one. You can volunteer for one, the other, or both.
To register as a judge or steward please click here.
Entry drop-off
Please drop your beers off by 11am on Saturday the 15th of March. Drop off locations are:
Backyard Home Brew Co
The Great Beyond - 152 Bell St, Coburg (NOTE: Opens 1pm on Saturdays! Entries dropped here extended until 1:30pm on Saturday the 15th of March)
Greensborough Homebrewing - 29 Beewar St, Greensborough
Keg King - 48 Smith Rd, Springvale
Questions
If you have any further questions please reach out to the Merri Mashers committee via info@merrimashers.org
Past Merri Masher's IPA Comps
2024 results
2023 results
2022 results
2021 results
2020 was cancelled due to Covid
2019 results
2018 results
2016 results (Specialty IPA Comp)
2024 awards recording
2023 awards recording
2022 awards recording
2021 awards recording